All talks of life
by Haze the Chameleon
Summary: Haze Spivey and his friends question the world around them and discuss them between one another. OC centric story.


Haze Spivey turned the corner of the grocery store, pushing his shopping cart with his numerous goods needed for the number of weeks to come. With him, sitting in the shopping cart under all of said goods, was Zed Hawkins, his best friend of the last decade, who, despite having numerous food stuffs and canned goods laying over his torso, made no complaints of being uncomfortable. Haze too made no gripes of having to push an additional hundred pounds of wolf in his shopping cart in addition to his milk and vegetables and stuff. They were just happy to be spending time together, as their respective jobs often kept them busy. Zed caught a bottle of brand name ketchup Haze had thoughtlessly tossed into the cart, one that had made him take a closer look at all of the groceries his friend had chosen.

"Haze, if I may ask," he curiously stared, "why do you always get the brand name things?"

Haze threw another bottle in the cart, a mustard bottle, and raised a brow. "Why do I buy brand name? Because it's better. Why wouldn't I want better food?"

Zed pointed to the price tag below Haze chosen condiment bottles and then pointed to the store brand bottle right next to it. "I would say because it's cheaper. Who wouldn't want to spend less on groceries?"

"Eeeehh…" Haze audible thought, putting his hands on the bar of the shopping cart. "I feel as though I would taste the cheapness, you know? Store brand soda just tasting like sugar would be an example."

"Well, I've had some store brand things that are way better than name brand." Zed put the mustard bottle right by the ketchup as he spoke.

"Yeah, maybe like, the macaroni or canned beans, but not much of anything else." Haze responded, pushing the cart down the next aisle. "I just see no reason to buy store brand."

"Store brands can get away with putting more stuff in their products than name brand." Zed commented, putting a finger to his chin. "Like the store brand have more servings. And don't make any comments about quality over quantity, because all pasta tastes the same."

"A very controversial point there, friendo." Haze said, moving across aisles. "But when it comes down to it, some people prefer quality over quantity. Some people prefer name brand pastas because they're easier to cook. Taste isn't everything, you know."

"If we're aren't only pointing out food, the store brand shampoo works just as well as the brand name stuff." Zed added, running his gloves hand through his hair. Haze stopped the cart and looked down at his friend, scowling. "Oh right. No hair. Sorry." He nervously said, nervously laughing afterwards."

Resuming his forward cart movement, Haze stopped when he spotted a pair of large soda bottles. Both bottles were the same shade of red with white lines under the text, however where one's title had a recognizable brand logo, the other was written in a generic font easily recreatable via computer. He stopped the cart again and quickly picked them up, showing them to Zed. "See, this is another reason I don't like brand name, they try to trick you into buying the lower quality crap. I recognize this right away, with all the soda I drink, but a busy family man might make the mistake and get his family mad at him."

Zed thought for a moment and forced a cough. "Oh honey," he said in a high pitched British accent, mimicking the hypothetical man's wife, "you saved us a dollar on our grocery bill and helped support your local supermarket, I'm so proud of you."

"But dad," Haze replied, using his own high pitched voice to mimic the man's children, "why did you have to buy the over sweetened, under flavored, inferior drink? I don't love you anymore."

"This took a turn I was not expecting." Zed said in his usual speaking voice. "Is it really that big a deal?"

"It's dishonest, is the point I'm making."

"Was that the point you were making? I thought you were talking about a father losing the love of his children because he made an honest mistake."

Haze shrugged and put both bottles back to where he had found them, before taking his place at the shopping cart and pushing again. "What was that about supporting your local supermarket?"

"Well, when the store sells a brand name, they only get a segment of the profit," he explained, waving his hands around whilst doing so. "But when a store like, manufactures its own soda, or its own brand of potato chips, they get 100 percent of the profits. When we buy store brand, we help support our local supermarket."

"Our local branch of the nationwide supermarket chain." Haze sarcastically added as he turned into another aisle. "They're the ones who need support."

Zed nodded. "But it's also to help those who can't really afford brand name foods. I've seen some students at the university who eat ramen noodles for every meal of everyday. Those guys probably worship store brand products."

"I suppose some people like store brand, but the point you're making makes it seem like the only reason people buy store brand is because they have no choice. Like blackmail, sorta." Haze commented.

"That's a cynical way of looking at it." Zed said, shifting his weight around in the shopping cart to get more comfortable. "Some people prefer store brand."

"To each their own, I guess." Haze commented, nodding his head in unison with Zed.

Haze pushed the shopping cart into the checkout line and, with Zed's aid, gathered all of his groceries and was out the door in a matter of moments.

**Tune in next time when the we talk about world records**


End file.
